Some image forming apparatus has various printing functions such as an N-in-1 printing function for collectively printing plural (N) original images on a sheet, an insertion function for inserting an insert sheet in between printing sheets, and a combining function for combining an original image with a particular image and outputting the combined image. Such image forming apparatus is singly capable of performing a printing process while combining these printing functions.
A printing system has also been proposed that realizes a printing function not provided by an image forming apparatus by using an external apparatus (see PTLs 1 and 2, described below).
With a technique described in PTL 1, when an instruction to perform 2-in-1 copy is given by a user through an operation panel of an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus transmits a request for 2-in-1 copy and image data of an input original to an external apparatus. In response to this, the external apparatus performs 2-in-1 processing to create image data for print and transmits the created image data to the image forming apparatus. Based on the image data for print, the image forming apparatus performs a printing process.
With a technique disclosed in PTL 2, a web page provided in an external apparatus is displayed on an operation panel of an image forming apparatus, and according to operations on the displayed web page, various applications running on the external apparatus are operable in cooperation with an image forming program running on the image forming apparatus. In a case, for example, that a translation application runs on the external apparatus, required parameters are input by a user to the web page displayed on the operation panel. Subsequently, the translation application instructs the image forming apparatus to create a scan job. The image forming apparatus reads and transmits an original image to the external apparatus. The translation application on the external apparatus performs OCR processing and translation processing on the original image received from the image forming apparatus, and instructs the image forming apparatus to create a print job. The image forming apparatus prints image data received from the external apparatus.
With the technique described in PTL 1, however, a screen resource used by the operation unit for display and a program being operable in cooperation with the image processing function of the external apparatus to control the operation unit are stored in a storage unit of the image forming apparatus, posing a problem that it is necessary to upgrade versions of the program and the screen resource of the image forming apparatus each time the image processing function of the external apparatus is version-upgraded.
With the technique described in PTL 2, applications and screen resources for inputting parameters into the applications are stored in a storage unit of external apparatus, and therefore the applications and screen resources can be version-upgraded independently of upgrading of versions of programs for the image forming apparatus. However, image processing functions such as a translation function are solely realized by the external apparatus, which poses a problem that these image processing functions cannot be combined with a printing function of the image forming apparatus.